A court reporter is a person who is trained to make a complete and accurate transcription of everything that happens inside a courtroom. These workers are generally used during litigation and hearings.
The practice of creating verbatim records dates back to the establishment of courts of law. A court reporter is a valued member of the legal community. This is because accurate and complete records help investigators, lawyers, judges and juries to perform their functions fairly. When a court makes a decision, it is important that the decision making process is supported by court records. This allows people to research old court cases for various reasons. For example, a person may claim that he or she was wrongly convicted. This can be investigated by going back to the court documents and looking for mistakes. As these records contain information about evidence and witnesses, lawyers will be able to tell if the case was judged fairly. These cases are also helpful for law students. Many students study court records for their classes.
